


The Moments Inbetween

by KDdoodle



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: 2nd person perspective, Angst, Character Study, F/M, Gen, M/M, Pretty sad, Unrequited Love, arthur centric, can be read as platonic, not so unrequited love? You decide, sorta - Freeform, unbeta’d
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-03 15:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16328750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDdoodle/pseuds/KDdoodle
Summary: It’s in the little moments like these, the quiet ones, where you miss him most.





	1. Minutes

**Author's Note:**

> So I’m late.
> 
> Gosh Hellbent was s o g o o d.
> 
> So I was pretty caught up in Arthur, and all of his emotions and how things would effect him. So I guess thats what I intended to explore here? I really like his character, and I really like the “everyman” trope that’s associated with him.  
> I’m lov my boi.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

9:35 pm

It’s draining sometimes, how much you miss him.  
It’s in the little moments like these, the quiet ones, where you miss him most. 

9:45 pm

These moments are peaceful for her, you think. She rests while you drive, and instead of his warmth beside you or her—

It’s here.  
You feel bad calling it that, but you don’t know what else to think, what is the thing that’s sitting beside you?  
What do you do?

9:50 pm

And then the guilt is back, he isn’t an it. He’s your friend, who you for some reason have a totally irrational fear of.

9:51 pm

It’s fine.

9:53 pm

You’re fine.

10:00 pm

Your best friend is still missing though.

10:05 pm 

You sigh and turn the key, having long since pulled over, the van needs work, and you need to get to it if you want to get back to the shop by midnight like you promised.

10:09 pm

She snorts behind you, it startles you a bit, but its not anything new. 

10:10 pm

He isn’t here to make comments about how cute it is and giggle sweetly, a pretty rosy color on his cheeks, and the smile that made you feel loved, even when it wasn’t directed at you. 

10:15 pm

No.  
No. No. No.  
You can’t think those things.  
It’s far too late for that.  
It’s unfair to her.  
To him.

10:20 pm

You crack the back of the van open slowly, she may sleep like a rock but the last time you woke her up she almost broke your nose, and you honestly don’t have the energy to deal with that right now.

Oh, your laptop is on.

You remember that picture, the four of you all together —before he was gone, before she forgot, before it became an “it”— and his family, your family.  
You miss them too.  
You tell them you’re working as hard as you can, and that you and she will see them soon, but you’re lying. Well, mostly, you don’t want them to grieve over her too, they’ve lost one child, they don’t need to know they lost another with him. 

10:30 pm

You finish updating your map when you feel a chill run down your spine, and toss your laptop onto the floor of the van. 

It’s an odd reaction, you’re almost glad she’s not awake, she would be analyzing everything, and thats more of a hassle then its worth really.

You grab your tool box.

Time to get to work.


	2. Seconds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time’s always up sooner or later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, I wrote a chapter two! I havent been able to get this fic out of my head, so I think that maybe it’s my favorite thing I’ve ever written?
> 
> I dunno.
> 
> Thank you for reading.

0:60  
The light flashes across your face, it’s vivid in color but not in shape, familiar, but strange. You feel it and you don’t.

0:50  
If you didn’t know any better you’d say that you were dead. Yet you don’t feel any pain, just the weird sensation of touching light. It feels almost like static, as it runs along your skin, you didn’t imagine that it would feel like this, like running your metal hand along something weakly electrified. It’s a gentle buzz, and it seems, relieved? You don’t think that makes any sense, but tonight has already been so goddamned weird, so why not? You relax into the feeling, not having realized how tense you were. 

0:45  
Then you feel an embrace. It’s warm and cold and welcoming, if you were any cheesier you say it felt like home, and you know who it is.

0:30  
You’re still reeling from the last twenty minutes, when you hear a voice you thought you never would again. If you weren’t already tearing up, you certainly were now. It’s so kind and warm, and it’s so so sad, so so sorry, so so broken. It whispers little things into your mind, they’re meaningless really, just words. You can’t even bring yourself to figure out what they are, you’re too focused on the voice itself, how much you missed it.

0:25  
You’re still reeling. There are lots of thing running through your head, but none of them click, nothing stays, the only thing is the last word on your tongue.

0:23  
His name.

So you say it again.  
And again, and again, and again, and again— 

0:21  
Its not just his name any more, its a mantra. The only thing that has kept you going for months, has been the thought of seeing him again, and here, now, he is.

0:19  
But you’re too afraid to turn your eyes up, and pull your head from his chest where you’ve buried it— and he knows. 

0:17  
He hums, or, his body mimics the vibration, and pets your head. He’s giving you time, to think, to process, to feel. Things you haven’t had the chance to do in a very, very long time. And, he doesn’t say it but you know some how that time is distorted here. It passes sure, but slowly. You can have as much time as you need, and some how that is the greatest gift you’ve ever received.

0:15  
By god, you missed him.

0:13  
The pressure on your back lightens and he stops petting you, only to tilt your face up, and look you in the eye. Really look.

0:12  
And everything is there.

0:11  
His anger.  
His desperation.  
His fear.  
His regret.

0:10  
No words travel between you, but you know. You know everything, and you smile, the best you can through all the tears, and he smiles back. 

0:09  
You bury your face into his chest again when your cheek brushes up against something cold, and you realize, it’s the heart. The one that’s always on his left breast, almost like a weird glow-y pocket square. But it isn’t glowing, in fact, its not even yellow like it was before. 

0:08  
It’s black. And shattered. 

0:07  
You look up quickly, slowly motioning toward it, and he bobs his head slowly, unsure. 

0:06  
As your fingers meet the cold surface, they leave little golden streaks, you run one finger over a crack, healing the spot you touched completely. You smile unconsciously, and keep running your hands over the cold piece of glass (it feels like glass, but you’re not really sure). 

0:05  
He looks shocked once you meet his eyes again, and that relief is back. He smiles again — you really cant figure out how that works, he doesn’t have a mouth— and pulls you in tight, mumbling thank you’s. he sounds like he’d be crying if he could, and that makes sense, you haven’t exactly stopped crying, for a good while now at least.

0:03  
You hear what sounds like a gunshot, but in slow motion, and he turns. 

0:02  
He looks back at you, and you nod.

0:01  
Time’s up.

0:00


End file.
